Report: Government Workers’ Pay Is ‘Inflated’

The average federal employee earns 57 percent more in salary and 85 percent more in total compensation, including benefits, than the average private-sector worker.

Controlling for “skills and characteristics” to develop an apples-to-apples comparison shows that the average federal worker still earns 22 percent more in salary than the average private sector employee and from 30 percent to 40 percent more in total compensation, according to a new report from The Heritage Foundation, “Why Government Pay Is Inflated.”

The report by James Sherk, senior policy analyst in Labor Economics in the Center for Data Analysis at the Foundation, includes these points:

Federal workers receive automatic seniority-based raises regardless of performance, and it is nearly impossible to fire an underperforming federal worker.
Their total compensation in addition to pay includes generous health benefits, a pension plan, full retirement at age 56, and retiree health benefits.
Workers with three years on the job receive 10 holidays, 20 paid vacation days, and 13 sick leave days per year.
Federal employees quit their jobs at one-third the rate of private sector workers.
Many federal employees retire with their pension and health benefits and take a second job in the private sector, “leaving taxpayers to subsidize this double-dipping,” Sherk observes.
Since the recession began, the number of federal employees — excluding the Postal Service — has risen by 230,000.
Reducing federal pay to market rates would save taxpayers about $47 billion a year, without reducing public services.

Sherk concludes: “Taxpayers should not sacrifice so that federal employees can enjoy better pay and benefits than they could hope to receive in the private sector.”